Power Steering Leaking

So over the past few weeks I have gone through a couple of bottles of power steering fluid and just now went under the car to look. I have examined all around the power steering pump and reservoir and can see no liquid so I ruled out any leaks there. When I got under the car, it was a different story. The "pipes" that run past the down pipe and in-between the wheels has some major leaking. Enough so, that I have been leaving little puddles in the driveway.

Any thoughts on how much this will cost? And maybe how to fix it? I didn't jack the car up so I couldn't snap any photos. I need to go to the dealership tomorrow for something else so I will ask them too, but thought I would try here first.

Thanks!

 

So, just found out that the steering rack is leaking internally. Quite was about $1200 with alignment.
Thoughts?

 

That was going to be one of my next moves!

 

Bump for allpro. Sorry to hear that mate

 

Thanks. This will be eating into my wheels fund…:wtc:

 

I've got a new remanned 03 steering rack. If it fits you can have it pretty cheap.

 

Thanks for the offer!
After looking underneath this weekend while installing some new sways, it looks like it might be one of the hoses and not the rack.
Anyone know what I would see if the rack was messed up? The dealership said it was leaking internally… ??

 

I just found this thread on IWSTI, so I am hoping it is a cheap fix like this. Under the car looks pretty much exactly like the picture.

http://www.iwsti.com/forums/warranty-service-issues/243996-2011-sti-power-steering-leaks-badly.html

 

They (subaru) make a $55 rebuild kit with new seals. I just pulled my rack and it was a major PITA even without a motor. Sway bar had to come off and I could negotiate it around the U-shaped subframe. All of it is off now and the rack will be the first thing to go back in.

With yours being an 09 I'd consider an autozone replacement with an sti rack or something with a quicker ratio... Its not an easy job so the question of the reman's quality would come into play if you had to pull it again.

 

Thanks.
Hopefully I can get it over to AllPro soon so they can check it out...

 

Went to AllPro today and they confirmed the worst. I have to get a new rack. I am going to call Subaru to see if they can cover the cost as I just hit 65K and this is a known problem. I am out of warranty, but am going to try anyway.

 

Just wanted to post a quick update.

After speaking with the All Pro team, they suggested that I reach out to SOA and start a claim on a new steering rack, which I did. I just received a call back from them and they were able to get the total price for the work dropped at Subaru of Kennesaw and SOA is going to reimburse me $500. I figure that since I am out of warranty (just hit 65K) that this is a pretty good deal. I still don't know why this part would fail at this mileage, but I am not sure I could squeeze any more money out of them.

On a side note, she told me that the service guy said that after the big storm they had a lot of cars going in with steering rack issues. She said not necessarily Subaru's though. I don't quite understand the correlation, but whatever.

So, if anyone runs into this issue, I would suggest reaching out to SOA.

 

Thanks man.
Either way, I would think Subarus could handle the "minor" cold temps we had (compared to other locations around the states).

 

Glad to hear SOA worked it out with you.

 

Yeah, thanks for the suggestion and taking the time to squeeze me in!

 

Once I get this new rack in tomorrow…is there any kind of break-in period I need to be worried about?

I am thinking of joining Enzo on a mountain run Sunday.

Thanks.

 

as long as the air has been purged out of the system you should be good to go.

 

cool, thanks!
I am assuming that they will take care of that with the new install.

 

yes